tread too far and you're out of bounds
by blenderfullasarcasm
Summary: "Interesting" is a word Shinichi finds himself using a lot in regard to KID. He probably shouldn't be thinking about that in the middle of a soccer game while he's acting as bait, though.


Bright lights swam before his eyes, which probably wasn't good, but he wasn't about to let that inhibit him. He was Kudou Shinichi, after all, even if the rest of the world knew him as Edogawa Conan - which was ironic because he was his regular teenage self again, thanks to a certain miniature scientist.

That name being his 'undercover identity' meant that someone, somewhere really had it in for him.

(Or possibly it was Jodie-sensei getting back at him for not telling her about the whole 'being shrunk' thing.)

The Black Organization had been toppled a year ago, brought down by a combination of treachery, homicide detectives, and a certain thief who was probably somewhere in the cheering crowd right now. He had a habit of showing up to every game Shinichi played in and also sometimes in his house, which didn't alarm him nearly as much as it should, especially since KID was always in a disguise. Well, various disguises, never the same one twice - sometimes as a woman, sometimes as a man, sometimes as neither, and - on one memorable occasion - as a woman cosplaying a male character from some anime he couldn't quite remember the name of. That had been an _interesting _experience.

Well, _interesting _was one word for it.

KID had actually come in handy a couple of times when people became too...handsy after games. How they got near the locker rooms, he had no idea. Why they thought he would respond well to tackleglomps and expressions of undying love while he was being ambushed in a locker room was also beyond him. Really, he should thank KID for luring them away...or otherwise incapacitating them. Shinichi wasn't sure why he bothered, and it was kind of bugging him that he still didn't know why KID bothered at all, but Shinichi was definitely grateful. The games without KID, well...

...The first few games had been..._interesting_.

(He seemed to use that word a lot around KID.)

The first few games, KID hadn't made an appearance, but several crazy fangirls had. One of them claimed to be six months pregnant with his child, which was physically impossible since he had been Conan six months before. Another was under the delusion that she was his girlfriend and that he was going to propose to her that night - again, Conan. Also, she wasn't Ran (likely the only woman he could ever even conceive the _thought _of proposing to), and hadn't that been fun to explain.

By which he meant explaining to the girl that, no, he was not going to propose to her, and could she please get out of the locker room so that he could change out of his towel, thanks, and also to Ran about how he was going to be called Conan for a while, and please, please don't ask questions yet because he hadn't thought up a plausible lie.

...He hadn't meant to say that last bit aloud.

So now Ran was (understandably) mad at him, and while he couldn't exactly tell her about how he had been Conan, he also wasn't really allowed to tell her why she should still call him 'Conan' now that he looked his age again.

It was a shame that she no longer took "That's classified," as a sufficient answer.

Eventually, he'd caved and told her a heavily edited version of what he'd been doing during the time he had been Conan and the FBI's plan.

He'd told her that the case he had been working on was the Black Organization (because that had been widely publicized anyway, though he'd only been mentioned as one of 'a group of teenage detectives' at his request) and that he had been caught up in the case during their date thing (had it been a date?) at Tropical Land, though he was more vague in his description because even if they were mostly gone, he still couldn't tell her everything in fear of someone kidnapping her and torturing her and - he was going to stop right there.

Even though the core of the Black Organization had been demolished, the FBI was worried about splinter groups and stragglers. So they devised a plan, which Shinichi had revised, and they argued and eventually came up with the plan he was currently in the midst of enacting.

Shinichi took a sip from the water bottle in his hand, pouring a little over his head before capping it. He closed his eyes tightly for a moment, ignoring the raging ache behind them.

He was going to act as bait, but not by being a detective - no, it would take too long to work his way up to a prominent position in the police force despite his consultant record (or even as a private detective, thanks to his years of absence from the media) and it would be too easy to snipe him on the way home from school or Ran's house, although the last one didn't seem particularly likely anytime in the near future.

So, they'd asked him what else he could do that would be plausible to his schoolmates and yet get him in the public eye quickly.

Shinichi had thought about that, absentmindedly standing from his chair and clicking a button on one of the cufflinks Agasa-hakase had made to replace and improve upon his trusty belt. A soccer ball had appeared, which Shinichi had kicked around while he thought. Eventually, he came up with an idea (how hard would it be to write a best-selling novel, really, especially if he used his family name - or acting, he could probably act semi-decently) and had turned to face the agents, finding expressions ranging from bemused to astonished to triumphant.

And so Kudou Shinichi had found himself playing professionally on the Tokyo Spirits. Somehow.

A whistle blew in the background, barely audible above the cheering of the crowd. Shinichi sighed, rubbing his temples at the shrill noise. Someone tapped him on the shoulder. "Oi, Edogawa-kun. You're up."

...The more he thought about it, the more sure he was that Jodie-sensei had chosen that name to get back at him for the whole 'letting her think he was just a creepy genius child' thing.

The meeting with the Spirits' coach had been just before the season started. The FBI had explained their plan with the help of a certain few police officers because they couldn't really operate formally in Japan, strictly speaking. The coach had shot them down flatly. How could he endanger his players on the off chance that some criminal would come after Shinichi? Why would a criminal be coming after a teenager in the first place? Also, was a highschooler even good enough to play at the J-League level?

The entire congregation winced notably, excepting Shinichi who hadn't had much sleep the night before because of a case and was staring absently out the window. The coach had taken the collective cringe the wrong way and assumed that he was absolutely abysmal.

They had taken a short recess so that everyone could have a chance to cool down and also to have some coffee since they had been there for at least two hours. Shinichi, having laid his eyes reverently on his coffee as if it were more precious than sapphires and then poured it down his throat in a way that had Takagi-keiji visibly concerned for his health, had unsurprisingly found a soccer ball in a corner and had gone outside to kick it around for a while to burn off some excess energy.

When they had come back from their recess, the coach was surprisingly eager to sign him on, and the FBI even managed to add a few terms that the coach had agreed to readily.

Shinichi still hadn't managed to figure that one out yet, but then again, he hadn't had the time. The remnants of the Black Organization had still been out there, after all, though now they were no longer (much of) an issue.

He had also felt the need to inform the coach of his...condition. Being a corpse magnet was time-consuming, after all, and he might not be able to make it to all of the practises - and those he did make it to, he would probably be a bit late.

The coach hadn't cared then, but he probably hadn't realised how often it would be.

(Shinichi's life kind of sucked.)

Shinichi staggered forward a step before righting himself and forcing himself forward in the confident stride he was known for - the one with the relaxed shoulders and cocky grin - and stepping onto the field. The cheers from the crowd increased exponentially.

When Shinichi had been given his first warning, he had missed three practices and been somewhere between fifteen minutes and an hour late to all the others. The captain had told him he needed to be better about his attendance.

He had made no promises. How could he, when Hattori had decided to come watch a game? It wasn't like Shinichi could predict when, exactly, murdered corpses would be falling from the sky.

A week later, the coach took him aside. He had said that the team was becoming...discontent with his attendance record. Shinichi had thought about it for a moment, then had deduced that they all thought he was late because he was sleeping around - because apparently he was selling the whole 'cocky arrogant brat' thing that the FBI decided was necessary.

Well, most of them thought he was absurdly sexually active - two thought that having to juggle school, homework, and practise was getting to him and were a little more sympathetic. The coach had dimly nodded and then told him point blank that he needed to come to their retreat next weekend and that he needed to be on time. Shinichi had agreed after asking if he could do his homework in his downtime. Catching up on years of schooling did leave one with an abundance of work to get done.

The bus had left the next morning at noon. Shinichi had woken himself up at six and was out the door by seven and yet was still nearly late. He had encountered three dead bodies on his way to the field.

It had almost been a record, even for him.

The bus had left on time, reaching their destination a mere hour and a half later. Shinichi'd meant to do his homework on the ride there, but instead had ended up taking a much-needed nap. Honestly, he'd slept so well that he couldn't rule out that he'd somehow been dosed with some of KID's sleeping gas, since that was pretty much the only way he'd been getting extensive uninterrupted sleep.

(He was back to living in the Kudou mansion, and it was just too quiet after listening to Occhan's snoring for so long.)

The other players had probably noticed how dark the bags under his eyes were and how full his backpack was, and hadn't bothered waking him up.

Shinichi's Arrogant Smirk (TM) faltered slightly as his vision swayed, but he continued moving with a purpose. Halftime was over, and though he had scored four goals alone, not counting his assists, in the first half, he needed to score a few more to keep his team comfortably in the lead.

The trip was supposed to have lasted a weekend, but the bus had been delayed and there had been a snowstorm so they had ended up staying for a little less than a week. At least once a day, Shinichi ran into a murder and solved it with his usual calm precision. Almost always, a teammate or two was with him, though luckily none of them had been either the victim or the culprit. That wasn't to say that they hadn't been suspects, of course...and there had been that one failed assassination attempt on the captain…

(It had been an eventful trip.)

After that, all of the players stopped commenting on his tardiness and some of them offered to stay after to help him memorize some of the plays. He gratefully accepted, though politely refused the offers of help on his homework. Over the course of that trip, his team had also learned that he was doing several years of school at once due to circumstances beyond his control, though they were not privy to the details. Shinichi had had such a bitter smile when they had asked that they had quickly changed the subject.

(Some of his teammates had taken to studiously avoiding him after that trip. Shinichi didn't take it personally - they were scared. He didn't have enough information to figure out whether it was because of him and the way he solved mysteries or because of his corpse attraction powers, but honestly both were understandable.)

What was that black and white blur coming towards him? Oh, right, a soccer ball. He was playing soccer, wasn't he?

(Why was that, again?)

On instinct, he managed to catch it and dribble towards the center, kicking the ball to a teammate as he went. The kick was slightly more powerful than it should have been and he had a feeling that Hideki-senshu would have a bruise in the morning.

What seemed like eons later and yet no time at all, he had the ball again. This time, he decided he may as well go right for a goal and so kicked it with as much power as he could muster.

The ball sailed into the goal and the crowd fell silent. Shinichi frowned blearily. That was strange. But not Kaitou KID strange. Usually, the crowd loved it when he scored a goal.

One of his teammates jogged up to him. "Edogawa-kun, are you okay? That was our goal."

Oh. Whoops.

Shinichi nodded. "Yeah, sorry. Lost my head a little bit."

His teammate, who he belatedly recognised as the captain, studied him closer. "Are you sure? You look a bit pale. Have you been sleeping okay?"

Shinichi let out a harsh bark of laughter. "Absolutely."

(He had not slept well since the last KID heist, at which KID had taken one look at him and forcibly put him down for a nap. He hadn't even bothered to use Shinichi's face as a disguise, and Shinichi was oddly offended by that.)

The captain looked at him suspiciously. "I think I might need to take you out for a while."

"Can't," Shinichi muttered absently. "Gotta get 'em. Gotta bring them down." His vision was growing remarkably darker around the edges. That was probably bad.

The captain gave him a strange look. "I didn't know you had such a beef with Hokkaido."

Oh. Was that who they were playing?

"Well, I understand grudges. One more chance." He clapped Shinichi on the shoulder before turning to leave.

And that was when Kudou Shinichi collapsed.

"Ack! Edogawa-kun ! He's burning up! Someone get an ambulance!" he distantly heard someone yelling.

The last thing he saw before his vision darkened completely was a flash of white as he heard a familiar soothing voice in his ear.

_"__Oi__, Shinichi. Stay with me. You can sleep soon, but stay awake for just a minute, okay? Just a minute."_

Then the paramedics came and tried to force KID away, because that's obviously who it was (though - he probably wasn't dressed as KID?), but that didn't happen. He protested wildly and when they looked away from him for even a moment (the fools - you don't take your eyes of Kaitou KID, Shinichi thought almost deliriously), he disguised himself as a medic and helped them load Shinichi into the ambulance. In the confusion, no one noticed - or, if they did, they neglected to say anything.

Hours later, Shinichi awoke to the beeping of a heart monitor and the feeling of rays of sunlight peeking through the curtains. He could recognise the sensation of an IV drip in his right arm without opening his eyes, which said a lot about his life. He sighed before steeling himself for the light of the room as he slowly lifted his lids.

"Did I get shot again?"

His voice was scratchy from either disuse or screaming, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know which one.

"_Again_, tantei-kun?"

Shinichi's eyes drifted over to the chairs by his bed, only one of which was occupied. By KID. Who was dressed in full thief regalia. He sat up, propping himself against the wall, and blinked blearily.

"...How did you get in wearing that?"

KID's expression was hidden by the shadow of his hat, as usual, but Shinichi was getting the distinct impression that he was _not pleased. _"Now I know you aren't alright. Normally, you would have deduced something from my coat tails or something. And _what was that about being shot?_" he asked, pointedly.

Shinichi waved the hand not connected to the IV dismissively. "It was a case, not a heist, so don't worry about it. Besides, it was a long time ago. I was Conan at the time."

"You were _Conan at the time?!_"

Shinichi had a sinking feeling that he was only making things worse - especially if KID was breaking from his usual metered vocal pattern - and changed the subject. "So if I haven't been shot, why am I in the hospital?"

KID snorted - he must have been more rattled than he let on if his Poker Face was slipping. "You, tantei-kun, have been burning your candle at both ends. You've been going to school, doing years worth of homework, going to practises and games, and, as if that weren't enough, murder cases _literally fall on top of you_."

Shinichi rolled his eyes. "That was _one time, _and besides, Hattori was in town - "

"That isn't the point. I've done the math, tantei-kun. You run into at least a murder a day, and only one if you're lucky. I have half a mind to take you to the witch to see if she can fix you, because you've clearly been cursed." (This was muttered as an aside and Shinichi was fairly certain he wasn't supposed to have heard, because _what._) "You forget to take care of yourself because when you get home, you're too tired to even think about cooking something. You've been existing on a diet of coffee and vitamins for over a month."

Shinichi opened his mouth to ask how he'd found that out -

KID gave him a hard look.

Shinichi gave up and settled in for the rest or what was apparently a lecture on self-care coming from the man who, until recently, had been _purposely making himself a blatant target for snipers._

How was this his life.

"Yesterday, it was raining. You stopped to solve a murder and gave the witness your umbrella. Then, you walked a kilometer back to your house in the pouring rain. Use your deduction skills, _heisei Holmes-san._"

Shinichi groaned. "I had a fever, didn't I."

KID clapped his hands together sardonically. "Very good, very good!"

And then Shinichi remembered the game. "Oh. I really shouldn't have been playing, huh?"

"Bingo!" KID said, accompanying his words with overly dramatic finger guns, because why not.

"Did we at least win the game?"

"_T__hat's_ what you're worried about?"

Shinichi winced.

KID sighed, resigned. "Yes, you won the game, even if your teammates were worried sick over you. Also, I believe that the FBI will be bursting into your room right about...now."

KID disappeared in a puff of smoke as the predicted FBI agents burst through the door, leaving no sign of his presence aside from a card on Shinichi's lap.

_I hope you know that this means I'll be keeping an even closer eye on you._

Well, Shinichi thought privately as he attempted to explain to the FBI (no, he had NOT been shot and no, he did NOT need a private security detail, really), things would certainly be more.. _interesting _with Kaitou KID watching his every move.

...even more than usual, apparently.

Shinichi glared half-heartedly at the dove on his windowsill (which appeared to have a miniscule camera attached to its leg).

It's not paranoia if they're really out to get you.

.

.

.

Notes:

hi, this isn't tmq, sorry

also this has been sitting on my drive for, like, a year so let me know if there's anything weird going on

title from "Echo" (Crusher-P)


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